Water-disintegratable non-woven fibrous sheet
View Patent ↗A water-disintegratable non-woven sheet comprising fibers bound by a water-soluble cellulose ether can be produced laying fibers to a base sheet, b) contacting the base sheet with a water-based composition comprising a water-soluble cellulose ether having a viscosity of up 500 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent solution in water at 20° C. using a Haake Viscotester VT550 with a cylinder system, cup MV, at 2.55 s −1 , and c) drying the sheet which comprises fibers being bound by the water-soluble cellulose ether.
1. A water-disintegratable non-woven sheet comprising fibers bound by a water-soluble cellulose ether having a viscosity of up to 500 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent solution in water at 20° C. using a Haake Viscotester VT550 with a cylinder system, cup MV, at 2.55 s −1 , wherein the water-disintegratable non-woven sheet comprises from 3.5 to 50.0 weight percent of the water-soluble cellulose ether, from 50.0 to 96.5 weight percent of fibers and from 0 to 5 weight percent of one or more other components, based on the total weight of the non-woven sheet.
2. The sheet of claim 1 wherein the water-soluble cellulose ether has a viscosity of up to 300 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent aqueous solution at 20° C.
3. The sheet of claim 1 wherein the water-soluble cellulose ether is a carboxymethyl cellulose.
4. The sheet of claim 1 wherein the amount of the water-soluble cellulose ether is from 3.5 to 30 weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the sheet.
5. The sheet of claim 1 , wherein the fibers are cellulose fibers.
6. The sheet of claim 1 , wherein the sheet is disintegratable in water of 20° C. in 10 seconds or less.
7. The sheet of claim 1 , wherein the sheet withstands a tensile force of at least 10 N without breakage.
8. A multilayered sheet wherein at least one of the layers is a water-disintegratable non-woven sheet of claim 1 .
9. A process for producing the water-disintegratable non-woven sheet of claim 1 comprising the steps of
a) laying fibers to a base sheet,
b) contacting the base sheet with a water-based composition comprising a water-soluble cellulose ether having a viscosity of up to 500 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent solution in water at 20° C. using a Haake Viscotester VT550 with a cylinder system, cup MV, at 2.55 s −1 , and
c) drying the sheet which comprises fibers being bound by the water-soluble cellulose ether, wherein the fibers and the water-based composition comprising the water-soluble cellulose ether are contacted as such amounts that upon drying the water-disintegratable non-woven sheet comprises from 3.5 to 50.0 weight percent of the water-soluble cellulose ether, from 50.0 to 96.5 weight percent of fibers and from 0 to 5 weight percent of one or more other components, based on the total weight of the non-woven sheet.
10. The process of claim 9 wherein the produced water-disintegratable non-woven sheet is combined with one or more additional layers.
11. The sheet of claim 3 wherein the fibers are cellulose fibers.
12. The process or claim 9 wherein the water-soluble cellulose ether is a carboxymethyl cellulose.
13. The process or claim 9 wherein the fibers are cellulose fibers.
14. The process or claim 12 wherein the fibers are cellulose fibers.
15. The sheet of claim 1 comprising the water-soluble cellulose ether having a viscosity of up to 300 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent aqueous solution at 20° C., at an amount that the sheet withstands a tensile force of at least 10 N without breakage and is disintegratable in water of 20° C. in 10 seconds or less.
16. The process of claim 9 wherein the water-soluble cellulose ether has a viscosity of up to 300 mPa·s, measured as a 2 weight percent aqueous solution at 20° C., and the fibers and the water-based composition comprising the water-soluble cellulose ether are contacted as such amounts that upon drying the water-disintegratable non-woven sheet the sheet withstands a tensile force of at least 10 N without breakage and is disintegratable in water of 20° C. in 10 seconds or less.